W H A T S N E W ?

The Health and Safety

Authority (HSA) has recently

released the following

guidance documents that

may assist you in your

management of health and

safety.

Click on images to view

OSH and Home Care Safety Rep & Safety Committee

N H S F , W o r k p l a c e H e a l t h & W e l l b e i n g U n i t , H R , I s s u e 7

O C C U P A T I O N A L S A F E T Y &

H E A L T H N E W S L E T T E R

I n s i d e t h i s i s s u e

SCA Awards

What’s New

WHWU Conference

HSA Programme of

Work

Corporate

Manslaughter

Learn & Share

Healthy Workplace

Framework

NHSF Website

Information Sessions

Safer Work— Stairs & Steps

S T A T E C L A I M S A G E N C Y A W A R D S, 2 0 1 7

The National Health and Safety Function (NHSF) receives recognition certificates at the recent

State Claims Agency Awards, 2017.

NHSF received recognition for the creation of a unified

National Health and Safety Function for the HSE and the

work completed on the HSE’s Stress Management

Programme.

The innovative creation of the NHSF has improved the

reach and access to health and safety expert advice

nationally.

NHSF also received a recognition for developing the HSE’s

Stress Management Programme which provides infor-

mation for managers to adequately manage workplace

stress. This information was delivered through 19 semi-

nars attended by 842 manages. The seminars were facili-

tated by the NHSF, in collaboration with experts from Oc-

cupational Psychology, Occupational Health, Employee

Advisory & Counselling Services, Health Improvement &

Improvement and Learning, Education & Development.

Details of the programme are available at www.hse.ie/safetyandwellbeing.

Nick Parkinson (Centre), Head of NHSF receives SCA recognition

Karen McKiernan (Centre), H&S Advisor, I&A Team receives SCA

H S A P R O G R A M M E O F W O R K , 2 0 1 7

See Programme of Work 2017 on HSA

website

HSA will be conducting a risk-based

inspection programme focusing on

the management of occupational

safety and health, with 170

inspections to be completed in the

healthcare sector, with action taken

to ensure the control of risks where

required.

The HSA will also conduct an

additional inspection campaign

with particular emphasis on the

control of violence and aggression,

chemical safety and stress at the

place of work.

Page 2 O C C U P A T I O N A L S A F E T Y & H E A L T H

To help you with HSA inspections,

we have prepared

FAQs on

Work Related Aggression &

Violence

Chemical Safety

Risk Assessments on

Chemical Agents

Workplace Stress

Workplace Health & Wellbeing is tasked with ensuring the delivery of high quality staff support

services including Staff Health, Safety and Wellbeing, Occupational Health, Health Promotion and

Employee Advisory and Counselling Services. On the 19th May 2017, the Workplace Health and

Wellbeing (WHW) Unit held it’s inaugural conference at Tallaght Hospital.

WHW WEBSITE

The Workplace Health and Wellbeing website is now available and has

been designed to provide information on the current range of support

services and programmes specifically tailored for healthcare staff to

help support them physically and emotionally throughout their working

life.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH STANDARDS

The conference launched the HSE Standards for Occupational Health Services in the Irish Health

Services.

These standards have been developed by a multidisciplinary group, including members of

Occupational Health Services, the National Health and Safety Function and Staff Health and

Wellbeing. The aim of these standards is to promote the consistency of service delivery by

driving improvements in the quality and safety of our OHS services.

The standards contain 5 themes, 17 standards and a Quality Assessment and Improvement

(QA+I) framework that will be used in the implementation of the standards.

See OH Standards on the WHW website for more details.

W O R K P L A C E H E A L T H A N D W E L L B E I N G

Corporate Manslaughter occurs when an organisation fails to meet the standard of care required to prevent substantial

risk of death or serious personal harm, and to take all reasonable measures to anticipate and prevent risks.

The Corporate Manslaughter Bill 2016 will create two new criminal offences which will have significant impact on

healthcare service providers.

1. An offence of Corporate Manslaughter is created when a person’s death is caused by gross negligence by an

“undertaking” (company, corporate body, charity, government department or statutory body) resulting in a

large fine.

2. A “high managerial agent“ (Director, Manager or Senior Official) may also be charged with a criminal offence

of “grossly negligent management causing death” in an organisation which has been convicted of Corporate

Manslaughter. This could occur when the high managerial agent knew or ought to have known of risk of death

or serious personal harm, and failed to take reasonable efforts to eliminate the risk which contributed to the

death. On conviction, the Director Manager or Senior Official could also be fined and/or given a jail sentence

and disqualified from acting in a management capacity for up to 15 years.

A court will consider the actual and stated responsibilities of the employee to establish if the employee should have

known of the risk, and whether it is in the power of the employee to eliminate the risk and if not whether the employee

passed information on the risk to others who can eliminate the risk.

It will also take account the organisation’s goals, communications, regulation and assurance systems including rules,

policies, allocation of responsibilities, training and supervision of staff and any previous response of the organisation to

other incidents involving death or serious personal harm, when determining if there is a breach of the standard of care

required.

Other sanctions that can be made include Remedial Orders, Community Service Orders or Adverse Publicity Orders.

Note this is a brief summary of the Bill that has been published. Source www.healthmanager.ie article by Davnet

O’Driscoll, Head of Employment Law at Amory Solicitors.

Article suggested by Kevin Little, Deputy DoHR/ERM (Operations)

To help you,

HSE Manual Handling & People Handling Policy, 2012

Manual Handling

Awareness programme is

available on HSELand

Manual Handling Training

available from HSE. For

brochure and booking

forms, go to our website

Stats from HSA

A worker in a hospital's record department, who

suffered a back injury when placing bundles of files on a

trolley, was awarded damages by the High Court. The

woman claimed she had not been given any manual

handling training before the accident, though she was

subsequently.

While an engineer for the hospital gave evidence that

the weights carried were not excessive, he agreed "the

manual handling training regulations were mandatory".

The High Court judge said the failure to provide training

was the principal cause of the accident. Prevention is

better than cure. Ref: Kelly v Bons Secours, Health &

Safety Review, May 2017

C O R P O R A T E M A N S L A U G H T E R – I M P L I C A T I O N S F O R M A N A G E R S

L E A R N A N D S H A R E — H A V E Y O U R S T A F F B E E N T R A I N E D ?

Page 3 O C C U P A T I O N A L S A F E T Y & H E A L T H

H E A L T H & S A F E T Y W E B S I T E .

We've listened to your feedback and re-designed our website to make

it easier for you to access the Health and Safety Self Service Helpdesk

to log your requests for advice and information and book/

cancel training.

See http://www.hse.ie/eng/staff/safetywellbeing/

To assist managers in implementing an effective health & safety management programme, the National Health &

Safety Function Information & Advice Team are offering support and assistance to managers through the delivery of

Information sessions.

The aim of these information sessions are to inform managers of:

the benefits of accessing the help desk/website

how to access the information available on the website

how to log a request to the help desk & explanation of the process involved

key topics/emerging trends to the help desk.

The sessions will also offer managers an opportunity to discuss any health & safety issues

pertaining to their area.

Should you wish to book an information session in your area (min attendance 20 managers):

Please email your name, CHO/Hospital Group, job title and contact details to Kathleen.OHanlon@hse.ie

H E A L T H & S A F E T Y I N F O R M A T I O N S E S S I O N S

The Healthy Workplace Framework is

being led by the Department of Health

and the Department of Jobs,

Enterprise and Innovations.

The framework will provide guidance,

which can be adapted to any

workplace setting, to help create and

sustain healthy workplaces throughout

Ireland.

Workplaces directly influence the

physical, mental, economic and social

wellbeing of workers and in turn, the

health of their families, communities

and society.

With over 2 million workers in Ireland

we are offered an ideal setting and

infrastructure to support the

promotion of health to a large

audience.

The World Health Organisation (WHO),

workplace health programmes are one

of the best ways to prevent and

control chronic disease, and also to

support mental health.

The development of a Healthy

Workplace Framework across both

public and private sectors will

encourage and support the

development of Health and Wellbeing

programmes in all places of

employment.

This will be further strengthened in

the public sector by legislation to

require all public sector employers to

H E A L T H Y W O R K P L A C E F R A M E W O R K

O C C U P A T I O N A L S A F E T Y & H E A L T H

have and report on a health and

wellbeing policy.

The framework will enable the HSE

to recognise and enhance existing

initiatives.

The National Health and Safety

Function (NHSF) is proud to